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Here's another chapter.

Chapter 1
The Girl

February 13, 2016
Evening – The day Walter got shot

Paige and Toby were running fast on the path of a residence. Based on the information acquired to stop a vicious revenge, they were running out of and at this point, it was all or nothing.
The targets were three important figures of the State: sergeant Francis Morse, judge Annie Colton and senator Michael Hamill. Walter searching for the truth about his personal case found out that a couple of events were connected to a bigger plan. At that very moment he was lost somewhere in the city, well, actually he was on the run, but despite the fact that all the members of his team were under surveillance he called them to warn them about the attack. FBI and Homeland joined forces at the wake of his breakaway and they were only waiting for him to make the wrong move like put himself in contact with Team Scorpion. He had no other choice and he had a plan anyway…

The phone in the garage started ringing. All the presents turn their heads toward the source of the sound. A technician, sat at the conference table with headphones on, pressed his fingers on the keyboard as an agent gave him a sign to start to record. Then this agent look at Paige asking her to answer the phone.

"Hello?" she tried to sound normal, her body was failing her as tension and anxiety were running through, and what came out of her lips was barely a mumble. This situation was pushing hard on her nerves and Paige being commended against her will was one of the reason she wanted all this to end as soon as possible. She cleared her throat and tried once again "Hello?".

"Paige… it's me". She almost cried to the sound of his voice. No, no… why are you calling here? She asked herself panicking and picking at the team. Toby, Happy and Cabe were standing near the stairs to the loft and Sly just few steps away near the kitchen. They were surprised, Toby even rolled his eyes while Cabe frowned concentrated and probably asking himself why his surrogate son would have called them giving his high IQ.

"Paige… Are you there?" Walter asked again through the device.

"Y-yeah. I'm here… where are you?" Paige replied as she read the agent in front of her waved a piece of paper in front of her eyes. They would have told her what to say or what to ask.

Walter averted the question and moved forward "I know they're listening" and by 'they' he meant everyone "but we don't have much time. We have a situation wider than me being on the run… Listen carefully…".

Walter explained everything, names of the criminals behind the attack apart. He didn't have those yet but he was dangerously near… if only he knew that once he uncovered the truth, that would have led him to get himself almost killed.

Obviously neither the FBI or Homeland would let Team Scorpion out, so they found they own breakthrough. Cabe and Sly ran to the judge while Happy went to the sergeant…

Paige was faster than Toby so she pushed the main door open, so he could pass her without losing precious time. Behind them, a couple of gorillas in suit kept were yelling and trying to speed up their run to be able to reach them.
Toby correctly guessed that the Senator was still working in his study and slammed the half shut door open bumping into a man, a delivery guy.

"Don't touch that-" Toby tried pushing the man aside, but it was too late.

The Senator of the California, Michael Hamill, had an envelope in his hands, but the paper fell on the floor as soon as Toby's loud voice startled him.

"Wha-… who the hell are you?! How did you get in here?" Senator Hamill asked surprised. "I'm calling the police". He picked up the receiver at his desk while his men struggling in their heavy breaths were about to handcuff Paige and Toby.

"Toby, where is the silver pin?" Paige commented looking for the object around the room. "I only see the envelope…"

Toby nodded "Yes. This is… wrong. AH! You hurt my wrist!" the shrink shot a glare at the taller man who roughly closed the cuff on his wrists. Then with a frown he turned to look the Senator straight in the eyes and deadpanned. "Senator Hamill, someone was planning to kill you with a silver pin, it wasn't supposed to be a letter. Well, only if you're not Michael Hamill-".

"Of course I am, who else should live here?" he raised his hands "The question is who are you!".

Paige took advantage of the situation and prevented Toby to say something inopportune. She walked in front of the desk where the Senator was standing with the receive still at midair in his right hand. "Sir, my name is Paige Dineen and this is Toby Curtis we work with-".

Something that hit the floor with a thud. Then another one. The Senator's eyes shot open revealing fear. There was only one other man in the room… someone who never left and just knock the guards out.
Was it the delivery guy? Paige didn't even remember him staying in the room noticed. It was Toby's turn to fall down, only few feet away from her. He hadn't the chance to react. Paige automatically turned to check on the unconscious genius, but she froze soon not sure on what to do. Time was running slower, but she knew it was only her perception. At that point she was facing the assaulter.

"You're pretty. Too bad you've seen my face, now I have to kill you" he said calm. Paige was terrified, hands cuffed behind her back and alone, since that coward of the senator went quickly under the table to hide. She saw the gun raised few inches away from her chest, and she prayed for someone to come and save her. How stupid was that, right? So she closed her eyes and a shot arrived abruptly, causing her to jump out of her skin; she heard it loud in the room.
Paige was shivering but nothing more than that. She didn't feel anything except for the loud beat of her heart that sounded like a noisy drum in her chest. She feared to open her eyes, she feared a lot, so she kept them shut as hard as she could.

"Paige?" the voice was heavy, tired. She recognized it again immediately, it was beautiful and it made her feel safe "Open your eyes… It's me, Walter" and so she obeyed.

White as a ghost he was standing on the door step. Paige saw with the corner of her eye the delivery guy laid on the floor, her eyes were all too focused on Walter who gave her a little smile right before he dropped on the floor.

"WALTER!". She reach him fast and fell on her knees beside him with her hands still behind her back. Only then she noticed the blood on his dark blue shirt. Oh my God! She struggled because she couldn't help him like that. He could barely keep his eyes open. "The handcuffs! Take them off" she commanded the Senator appeared from behind his chair. The coward, as she started calling him, immediately searched for the keys in one of his guards pockets and set her hands free.

"I'm calling an ambulance." The Senator proposed grabbing his phone from the couch near them.

Paige nodded in response since she was focused on Walter and started pressing her hand on his bleeding wound. She leaned on him to comfort him running her fingers slowly through his short curls.

"Walter, stay with me. Okay?… the ambulance is almost here." Paige was scared. She didn't want to lose him… not now, not ever. "YOU! Wake him up! NOW!" the Senator once again did what he was told and fast he started shook Toby awake.

Paige needed the shrink more than anything else, he would have known what to do for Walter. She caressed Walter's forehead and cupped his cheek as she asked him with her soft voice. "Walter? Who did this?" he was staring deeply in her eyes, pain was written all over his face. He tried to formulate a sentence in vain. Then he tried again, taking a deep breath "You-… is… M-Mo…" he was getting angry and winced in pain.

"Walter!" Toby was now by Paige's side. "Let me take a look at the wound." he demanded moving her hand from the red spot. "Damn it, it doesn't look good. What the hell were you thinking Walt?".

"He wasn't shot here Toby…" Paige spoke with a shaky voice "He was already… oh my… he shot him" she pointed at the man behind them. Toby stared at the delivery guy.

"That bastard. My head is pounding because of him… is he dead?". The Senator checked his pulse and nodded.

"Hey… look at me, please." She reassured Walter placing her hand on his chin to help him move his face toward her. "You are gonna be fine, okay?"
Paige was trying with all of her efforts to be strong, but poorly failing. Her voice cracked at last and her glassy eyes couldn't contain the water anymore. Tears started falling from her dams, it was a real breakthrough she couldn't stop anymore.

"P-Paige… don't" Walter barely spoke. He plead her to not cry as he was slowly fading. He grabbed her hand with a firmly movement, even if it was harder and harder for him to stay awake. "I-I…"

Toby was working on his wound as Walter groaned in pain. The doc asked him to stay still "I know it hurts like hell, we've been there already… remember? I need you to take a deep break" then he repeated Paige's question. Who did this to you?

"Last p-ph-…phone." The dying man replied. "ca-call…" Walter fainted.

She wanted to do it before, she was already prepared for Toby's reaction; she didn't care.
Paige leaned on his lips and gave him a brief little kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Seriously?" Toby was once again surprised by her 'actions' "Couldn't you just do it when he was still awake… or this is becoming a thing between y-"

"Shut…"

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February 14, 2016
Afternoon – Room 207

"…up, Toby!" Paige suddenly woke up in the hospital room.

"I haven't said a word… yet" Toby was sitting on chair at the edge of the bed.

Paige searched for Walter, only to find still asleep in that hospital bed and still in the same position. Not that she expected him to move, the man was in a coma after all. God, he was in a coma. It was the first time she fell asleep after the events of the previous day and she revived that nightmare already.

Still half asleep she glanced at Toby. "Why are you here? I thought the doctor said…"

"Sure. He likes to talk, a lot…" He moved his hands to mimic a talking mouth, then he crossed his arms and shifted in his seat. "I'm here because I have news on the case and on the bitch. Or so called…Adriana Molina." Toby began his story from the very beginning.

Walter's phone call list revealed the name of his last call. Sylvester hacked in the telephone company and found what they were looking for.

"I need to talk to you. In person." Walter's voice said.
"Do you realize that-"
"I know." He cut her off "I know the truth about the girl and the story behind the murder of the young hacker. I need you to trust me as I'm trusting you."
"Fine... I knew you would have find 'that' out sooner than later... Where?"
"Kovelski. In 30 minutes."
"I'll be there".

With that call and the video of surveillance from a camera on the opposite side of the street, there was no doubt she was the culprit. The video didn't reveal the actual shooting, but she was there and Team Scorpion saw that. They had it on video.

"… I know it might be odd, but I don't think it's her" admitted an uncomfortable Toby shifting again in his chair. "She's smarter than that".

Paige moved her chair near the bed adjusting its position so she could face him better. Instinctively she took Walter's hand and started drawing circles on his palm. Toby clearly noticed it but said nothing.

"Why do you think she's innocent? She shot him!" she said almost hysterically, but lowering her voice.

"She was preoccupied, a little scared but not about Walter. Sure, she denied everything, despite the evidence against her, but then she said something that that led me to believe that she was telling the truth... that she didn't shoot Walter. And I bet my money that it's something about that girl." he weighted his words before he continued "Molina said that the evidence are misleading even geniuses like us should notice that. But she refused to say anything when Cabe mentioned the girl, her body language changed and to a defensive position, indicating that there was some repressed fear... anyway... we found a lead on the murder."

"What about it?" Paige raised her eyebrows as she briefly picked in Walter's direction.

Toby adjusted his hat. "She claimed she didn't kill the hacker, which it must be truth... and she gave an address where to find him". Paige was confused "Yeah, I know. The director said he was still alive, but didn't gave any explanation on the matter. Happy and Cabe should be on the location right now… guess we'll know something soon".

"Right... I should call Ralph now." Paige searched for her purse and once she found her phone she asked Toby if he could stay with Walter in case anything happened.

"Take all the time you need. We're not going anywhere". Toby gave her a reassuring smile before she disappeared behind the door. Then, and only then, he cleared his throat and moved his chair neared Walter. "Oh man, you have know idea how lucky you are having such a good girl around. If only you could stop this" raising two pair of fingers to quote "fraternization, you'll be happier. Scorpion won't die because you are in love with someone... and I'm talking from experience.".

The shrink was silent for a while then he reprised his 'one way' conversation "Just wake up soon, buddy... okay?".

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February 14, 2016
Walter's mind

"I told you… I don't know. I-I can't remember.". Walter was on the floor on his knees, tears now streamed on his face. It couldn't just stop it because of all these overwhelming emotion that shot him right in the stomach. He didn't experienced anything like that before. Maybe once, when he finally admitted he was in denial about his sister's death... about that... Megan, sitting beside him, moved a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. Abruptly, the brother jumped ahead and hold her in a sincere hug "I missed you so much" he whispered ashamed. Walter O'Brien never enjoyed physical contact, everybody knew that. However he had his few exceptions, her sister... and Paige.
"Walter…" she said repressing a laugh, "You're holding me too tight!"

He leaned back to ask "Umm, sorry..." he paused staring at the floor. Slowly he looked up at Megan and said calm "Am I dead?"

"Do you really believe in life after death?" she replied serious, crossing her arms.

"No". He shook his head. If there was something Walter didn't believe in, it was the afterlife. "So,... if I'm not dead… why are you here? What is this place?".

"I'm here to help you remember and this is your mind, of course... more specifically, a representation of your memories." She smiled.

Walter was slightly perplexed. He excluded it was a rabbit hole, but there was something that reminded him of a sort of a vivid dream even if he never experienced anything like this before. It looked so real. He came to the conclusion that it was reality mixed with his perception of the ambient around him. He could hear the surroundings, the voices the doctors, Paige's..., but he was trapped in his own mind.
Walter took a deep breath and started running all the options and possibilities at him known. I need to get up.

"But you can't" Megan replied.

"I haven't talked out loud…" he opened his eyes observing her features. She was wearing her favorite shirt, (he knew he told her so only because he was the one who gave it to her). "So, if I'm correct... you don't exist. You are only in my imagination..."

"Exactly, so why am I here genius? I know you're going to ask me if I know who shoot you. No. It's blocked in your mind… and you can't access it neither can I".

"Because whatever happened shocked me? Or maybe..." Walter got up and started pacing the garage up and down "because the trauma and the wounds on my body weighted on the state I'm actually in... In conclusion I assume I'm in a coma because I'm not able to respond to external stimuli, like light or voices and I'm sure I sensed both of them. And neither to my internal ones, like waking up or go to pee... It seems an obvious and concrete solution." Walter analyzed every detail he was currently aware of "And, since you can't tell me anything that I've already know... Where do we start?".

An idea arrived in Walter's head like a storm. The genius walked fast toward the blackboard and grabbed one of Sylvester's chalks. He smiled, seeing how the chalks were ordered by dimension and color, so he took the first and bigger one, and started drawing an straight line part to part. At the bottom right he wrote: SHOT.

Suddenly a voice startled him. Or so called…Adriana Molina.

Hey, wasn't that Toby's voice? Walter was overwhelmed by a smell and, as he previously presumed, he was indeed in a hospital. His conclusion was correct, there was a 98% of chance of being in comatose state and at the same time he hated being right, because then this meant that his body was too weak and was failing him. Fortunately there wasn't any sign of no brain damages and that was a very good thing; his mind was still working well and fast.

Walter couldn't do much at this point, he had to wait. He knew he was young and strong and according to his calculations he should have woke up in a few days. The odd thing was that he couldn't remember how he got there and why. So the only thing he could do was trying to remember.
The genius stared at the black board as name started to echoing in his head. Toby said that name, but he captured only the last few words of that sentence. Molina… Molina. Think Walter... think, he told himself.

"Oh, look at this Walter. Sylvester put a beautiful picture in a heart shaped frame. Hmm... This is made of metal. Obviously from Happy".

Walter dropped the chalk. "What did you just say?"

Megan snorting took few step toward her brother and shoved the object in front of his eyes. "See? I said that Sylvester put a-"

"No, no, no. You said... frame" Walter closed eyes scratching his temple and muttering "Molina + frame = ...FRAMED. Ohh-oh-oh… looks like my brain is beginning to be efficient once again.".

"You... framed... by Molina. Did she shot you too?" Megan carefully placed the frame back on Sylvester's table. Walter was about to say something but Megan spoke first "Yeah, sure that's illogical. Why should she frame you to just shoot you a moment later?".

Megan took the laptop from Walter's desk and hand it to him. "Come on let's watch what just came up in there". She knocked on his skull a couple of times while he stared at her baffled.

Confusion was written all over his face. "Just because I said I pause and replay my dreams... I never intended literally through a computer.".

Walter had to admit that the whole computer thing was fascinating and almost gave in to try if it worked out, but he shook himself awake, if that could be even possible and marched to his desk.
He put his laptop at the same spot where it was taken and sat there on his chair. Truth was that he was tired. He was thinking... perhaps too hard, even if he knew that his brain was trying to send him a message and he only needed the right password to decrypt it. Also he thought that if he fell asleep, it could have been forever. He was scared that the cells of his brain could stop functioning and lead him to a definite death. He needed to solve his case... and most importantly he needed to wake up.

Walter started his train of thoughts looking at Megan "Okay... so. You're obviously here for a reason. It could have been anyone else," the first person he thought about was Paige, he was thinking about her so much lately "but my mind chose you... maybe because someone's sister is implicated in my case? And why the garage. Something's happened here, perhaps..."

Of course! In that very moment he started to remember things, when it all began... and the sister? Oh, the sister was the most important piece of the puzzle, the reason he needed to wake up as soon as possible. And last, but not least, there was the 'being shot' event. Now Walter knew that it wasn't important who shot but who didn't.

"Would you like to revisit those events to fill the blank spaces you still have?" Megan asked.

"Sure... wise choice, Megan. Hmm,... let's see. It was after a case. The team and I were back at the garage after the last case we've been called to solve and it wasn't a complete success. I remember that we caught an hacker who wanted to destroy the Government, but there were two of them and the second man ran away. And... and I was working on something else in the loft... another case about drug, no... silver pins? That's confusing..."

And as Walter started to recover his memory, every piece began to fit in the right place...

AN: Thanks for reading... Write a review if you can, it's always truly appreciated! To be continued.